From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
break down
v 1: make ineffective; "Martin Luther King tried to break down
racial discrimination" [syn: {break down}, {crush}]
2: make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of;
break down into components or essential features; "analyze a
specimen"; "analyze a sentence"; "analyze a chemical
compound" [syn: {analyze}, {analyse}, {break down},
{dissect}, {take apart}] [ant: {synthesise}, {synthesize}]
3: lose control of one's emotions; "When she heard that she had
not passed the exam, she lost it completely"; "When her baby
died, she snapped" [syn: {break down}, {lose it}, {snap}]
4: stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went";
"The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke
down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The
engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after
the accident" [syn: {fail}, {go bad}, {give way}, {die},
{give out}, {conk out}, {go}, {break}, {break down}]
5: fall apart; "the building crumbled after the explosion";
"Negotiations broke down" [syn: {crumble}, {crumple},
{tumble}, {break down}, {collapse}]
6: cause to fall or collapse
7: separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts
[syn: {decompose}, {break up}, {break down}]
8: collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack [syn:
{break down}, {collapse}]
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